Overview Cameo House Community Options for Youth (COY) Detention Diversion Advocacy Program (DDAP) Expert Witness, Court Navigation, & Sentencing Mitigation Services Juvenile Collaborative Reentry Unit (JCRU) No Violence Alliance (NoVA) Overview Technical Assistance California Sentencing Institute Next Generation Fellowship Legislation Transparency & Accountability

This past summer a young man named James Holmes bought four guns at local shops and more than 6,000 rounds of ammunition on the Internet in the two months prior to opening up inside a movie theatre in Aurora, Colorado. Now we have still another man (they always seem to be men) going berserk in an elementary school in Connecticut , killed at least 30 people, 20 of them children. One recent report noted that the gun murder rate in the U.S. is almost 20 times higher than the next 22 richest…

Prison realignment shows slow progress 23ABC News, December 132012

Why has crime, especially younger-age crime, plunged so dramatically in virtually every jurisdiction over the last 20 years regardless of its anti-crime policy or non-policy? We looked at standard explanations for the startling fact that today’s California and national youth and young adults represent the least criminal and violent generation ever reliably assessed. None suffice. Most social and institutional conditions thought to generate more crime have not improved. Youth poverty rates…

Prison Realignment’ Program Stalling Out? The California Report, December 142012

The purpose of the juvenilejustice system is to rehabilitate youth, a concept California’s Division of Juvenile Facilities (DJF) continues to struggle with. Progress in reform efforts through the Farrell lawsuit, now entering its second decade, have begun to sound like a broken record. In October 2012, the most recent Report of the Special Master released to the court commends DJF on certain improvements; however, areas crucial to the reform process have yet to meet compliance. Key areas…